It will take some time to show it in the standings but if Noah Gragson and the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 team maintain this level of performance, it could be a foundation building season that could pay off for years to come.
For one, Gragson is in a really comfortable headspace and despite a handful of setbacks, is showing really good pace through the first five races of the season. Finishes of ninth, 12th and sixth at Daytona, Phoenix and Las Vegas are a sign of resurgence for both Gragson and the No. 10 and only buoyed by bad finishes at Atlanta and Bristol, plus an inspection penalty.
But viewed holistically, they view themselves as being in a really good spot.
“I think it has exceeded my personal expectations, and I can’t speak for others, but I think what gives you the most confidence is when you get your tail kicked for weeks and you respond to it,” Gragson said on Saturday before the race weekend at Bristol.
“It challenges your day-to-day life off the racetrack. It challenges your everything and I lost a little bit of that confidence last year.”
It was a disaster of a season for Gragson at Legacy Motor Club in 2023, even before the suspension that ended his season. He has spoken at length to not feeling comfortable with the cars, no matter what set-ups they threw into it, and he didn’t feel comfortable at the shop and a lot of that was a cyclical experience.
What impresses Gragson the most so far, is both the speed they’ve shown, but also how they responded to the penalty and continued executing and creating positive momentum. Like, they responded to the penalty with two back-to-back races where they challenged for top-5s.
“I don’t know if I will ever get back to having the kind of group we had in 2022 at JR Motorsports, because that was as tight of a group as you could ever have, but I feel like this group can get there,” Gragson said.
He said he was inspired by something Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said after defeating Ohio State in November about ‘togetherness’ being the key to success.
Gragson said that the pieces are in place for success and it’s just a matter of that chemistry.
“What stuck out in my mind (about Harbaugh) is that he’s the leader of his team and they’re together,” Gragson said. “That’s what we need to focus on, trying to get that going, and I’ve always known it but that was a good reminder of how important relationships and camaraderie with the traveling guys and shop guys.”
He already had a friendship with Josh Berry from his JR Motorsports tenure and has become increasingly close with Chase Briscoe, who Gragson said has a lot of those leadership qualities a team needs too.
“He was the guy we were chasing in Xfinity back in the day and now I’m still leaning on his as a teammate,” Gragson said. “He’s our most experienced guy and has been a big help this year.
“I used to go shoot it with his crew chief, Richard Boswell, who was with Riley (Herbst) back then so I’ve known a lot of them for a while but I just immediately felt at home with these guys. I feel like I can be myself and am really being set up for success here. And the more I can relax, and be myself, the more that sets me up for success.”
So, due to the two sub-30 finishes and a 35-point penalty, Gragson is still in a 66-point playoff hole after Bristol. He says he has learned from last year and doesn’t plan to be any more aggressive to try to dig out of it.
Gragson says he is going to run each race in a figurative vacuum and just hope it’s enough to make positive headwind or maybe even a win.
“Last year, I was just driving way over my head trying to keep up and I won’t have to do that if we keep bringing race cars like this every week,” Gragson said. “I would spend all of a run trying to pass one or two cars, would get them, lose the positions on pit road and have to do it again.
“That’s what put me in positions to make mistakes.
“This year, Vegas, that was an eye-opener for me because we were fast in practice, had a fast car and our pit crew is unbelievable. We gained spots every stop. We kept leapfrogging cars on pit road and I’m probably driving at 90 percent.”
He says that he doesn’t feel pressured to make a pass on his first good run on a car ahead of him. He believes he will have other opportunities, and even if they don’t manifest, he believes in his pit crew to pick him up.
“I am racing really patient right now because I know we have speed, and there will be races where we’re not as fast, but I am really proud of the effort that everyone has brough and it’s helped me calm down behind the wheel a little bit.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.